Soft Skills, Unemployment and Job Search" with Joh anna Roth and Alexandra Roulet (INSEAD)
Abstract: Non-cognitive skills are increasingly rewarded in labor markets a nd are believed to play an important role in the job-finding process. We pr esent evidence from a large-scale randomized controlled trial evaluating a soft-skills training program for job seekers in France. The two-week progra m, offered by the French Public Employment Service, aims to improve both jo b seekers’ soft skills and their awareness of the role these skills play in the labor market. Prior to training, we measure a broad set of non-cogniti ve skills, ranging from professional soft skills to personality traits, and identify those more strongly predictive of job-search behavior and employm ent outcomes. The program significantly improves those skills --particularl y autonomy in career management. Participants also come to perceive soft sk ills as more important for job-search success. Although the training does n ot increase overall employment rates, it improves job quality: treated job seekers are more likely to obtain full-time, open-ended contracts and repor t higher earnings conditional on employment. We also show heterogenous impa ct of the training for different types of job seekers.
DTSTAMP:20260416T210512Z DTSTART:20260319T163000Z DTEND:20260319T180000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR